


A Mother's Choice (Is Sometimes No Choice At All)

by sansakatara



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: BAMF Sansa Stark, Character Study, Hopeful Ending, Joffrey is his own warning, abuse tw, alternative universe, if you're familar with the fandom youll know what i mean, plot holes what plot holes, this was inspired by talks of original outline Sansa y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:48:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansakatara/pseuds/sansakatara
Summary: Queen Sansa Stark, wife of King Joffrey I Baratheon, and mother of his son and heir, knelt in the sept designated for her use, and prayed.
Relationships: Catelyn Tully Stark & Sansa Stark, Cersei Lannister & Sansa Stark, Joffrey Baratheon/Sansa Stark (but only temporary), O.C. - Relationship, Robb Stark & Sansa Stark, Sansa Stark & Varys
Comments: 3
Kudos: 57





	A Mother's Choice (Is Sometimes No Choice At All)

Queen Sansa Stark, wife of King Joffrey I Baratheon, and mother of his son and heir, knelt in the sept designated for her use, and prayed.

If the gods were good, they would answer her prayers. Send her a message about the path she should take.  
But then if the gods were good, they would not have made a man like Joffrey Baratheon king, would they?

Sansa titled her head upwards to look at the stained-glass window and idly thought that for all its beauty, it did not equal that of the windows in her lady mother’s own sept.  
_Father, if I do this, I will accept whatever judgement you give me._  
Joffrey was her husband. She had stood in the Sept of Baelor that day and pledged herself to him with a kiss and a cloak. Both gods and men had witnessed this - Lord Tywin Lannister with his inscrutable face and his daughter Queen Cersei- a title that she did not have any right to in truth, as she was no longer Joffrey’s regent- giving a bright smile that did not veil the malice in her lovely green eyes. Joffrey was not only her husband, but her king as well.  
She had always been taught that it was her duty to stand by her husband. To serve her king.  
But her little Edric…

 _Gentle Mother, you must know that I only want to protect my son._  
That had been the only thing she had ever wanted, since the very first moment she had felt him kick inside her. Until she had felt that sharp jab – but nothing as sharp as the way Joffrey had seized her wrist and snarled obscenities in her face for the first time- the baby had not felt quite real to Sansa. Only when she first felt him stir, did she understand that she was going to be a mother. Or perhaps she only knew what exactly that would mean the moment the Maester had placed Edric into her arms.  
Sansa was immensely grateful that Joffrey had taken after his father in choosing to go on a hunt when it became apparent that her time was approaching. _He must only enjoy the sight of blood when he can physically spill it himself._  
She did not have to contend with Joffrey, but she must endure his mother.  
Cersei had been the first one to enter the birthing chambers. “My Lady,” The Maester’s voice was triumphant. “Her Grace has been blessed with a strong and healthy boy.”  
Even in her state, Sansa caught the way Cersei’s lip curled when he referred to Sansa as Her Grace. “Blessed indeed.” Cersei said sweetly. She held out her arms expectantly, and Sansa felt no choice but to surrender her son. Cersei cradled him, and Sansa tried to ignore the anxious dread in her stomach as her son’s paternal grandmother gazed at him intently.  
“He’s beautiful. But there’s not much of his father in him, is there?” The way Cersei worded it, it almost felt like an accusation. _But what is she accusing me of?_  
“All three of my brothers took after my mother, Lady Cersei.” Sansa said politely. “It is just one of those things I except.”  
Cersei smiled. “That is true enough, good-daughter. But you must be so proud. You have fulfilled every queen’s wish – to give her husband a son, and before the first year has even ended.”

Sansa knew Cersei was mocking her. Sansa had once gushed over Joffrey being the father of her children one day, until Joffrey had shown his claws when it had been too late. But despite Cersei’s mockery, Sansa was proud of her son. But it had nothing to do with Joffrey now.

 _Warrior, please grant me the strength to see this through._  
Sansa knew that the Warrior was prayed to for strength in battle, but He could also be turned to for strength outside it. And if Sansa did this, she must wield her strength as fiercely as any knight with a sword.  
Because children needed their mothers to be strong for them.

 _Smith, grant us safety._  
A ship could only promise freedom if its passage was also safe.

She was no longer a maid, but…. _Maiden, guard me as if you were guarding my innocence. So that I may guard my son._  
_Crone, light my way. Am I making the right decision?_  
She would be dancing with treason, if she did.  
She might have been a queen, but she was still a woman, and women had been killed for less.

But regardless, she might have no choice.  
\------------------------------------------------  
Perhaps it was only fitting that on the night she would flee, that she would meet him here in the godswood.  
Sansa pressed Edric close to her, praying fervently that he would not wake. _Sleep for now, little one._  
“Your Grace.” Sansa tried not to jump at the sound.  
Varys lowered his hood, smiling. Something about the way he smiled always made Sansa feel unease. But he was her only hope.  
“There were no issues, I assume, in you leaving your chambers?”  
Sansa licked her lips. “No. What will you plan to do with the guards?”  
Varys raised his eye-brows. “What do you imagine will happen?”  
_He will see them killed before the dawn breaks._ Sansa tried to suppress the strange sense of guilt that struck her at the thought. The guards were nothing to her, and her son was everything. Sansa knew that the threat of torture would just as quickly open a man’s mouth as the promise of gold would close it.

Sansa nodded and took a deep breath. “Then we must leave.” She said, grateful that her tone did not falter.

She knew Varys was not doing this purely out of any love for her or her son. He must benefit from this in some way, she thought. She had asked him that. "Why would you do this for me?"

Varys had smiled. "If your brother wins, then I imagine he will be all the more tender to a little spider if he knows that he did something for his sister. It'll make it easier for him to sack the city, knowing his sister and nephew are not inside."

No, Sansa thought, just a thousand other mothers and their children. She hoped that Robb could take the city peacefully. Only her beloved Joffrey should suffer. But maybe that was only something a little girl could dream.

"And if he doesn't... If Cersei asks you directly where I've gone..."

"I will not lie. I will say what my little birds have told me. But I pray it will never come to that."

"Best do," Sansa replied.

\----------------------------  
News spread quickly of the Queen and the little prince's disappearance. Joffrey is enraged and vows to split the one responsible in half for daring to steal his wife and son. To smash their heads in. Cersei is not half so deluded as her son. She knows that it would be her son's beautiful little queen who is at fault. She pledged to love my son, and this is what she does- the little bitch. Perhaps Cersei was wrong, and the girl had more wolf in her than she thought.

Robb Stark has spies in Westeros and abroad. It is through these spies that Sansa delivers a letter - letting them know enough that she and Edric were safe, but no more than that. Safe. Catelyn had clung to that word.

She clings to her daughter even harder when the war is over and Sansa and her son return to Westeros- no longer a babe, but a little boy of three, who could not understand why his mother sounded so happy, but also crying as if she was hurting too- like she had been hurting for a long time. And it was only now in this strange lady's arms that the hurt was finally going away now.


End file.
